Yoga for Kids
Across many disciplines, therapists use yoga as a playful tool for therapy. This is because there are so many incredible skills and benefits from yoga. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or therapist, we hope to encourage you to utilize it more with your kiddos. Here’s why:
Some benefits of yoga –
- Strength: Yoga helps to improve core strength, upper body strength, and leg strength through various positions and sustained holds.
- Balance: Balance is important for improved safety and decreased risk of falling. Any one-legged yoga poses works on balance wonderfully!
- Coordination: Yoga movements prioritize coordination by working to move the arms and legs in different directions in both standing and all fours positions, thus improving coordination.
- Flexibility: Yoga incorporates a variety of stretches into a traditional flow that address muscles that are commonly tight in the legs allowing different parts of the body to work in harmony with each other.
- Body Awareness: Yoga encourages kids to slow down, and pay attention to how their body is moving through different directions and poses. Body awareness is an important precursor to many life and school related skills.
- Speech and Language: Make animal sounds with positions, talk about positional language, target direction following, and practice social skills all with yoga!
- Emotional Regulation: Use yoga as a coping tool with kids to aid in taking deep breaths, holding still and counting to ten, slowing down to think about how their body feels, and more.
- Rhythm: Add a steady beat or song to your yoga routine, and have your child move through the motions on beat.
There are so many programs, games, card decks, apps, and videos you can use to support yoga with your kiddo. Here is a fan favorite to check out: Cosmic Kids Yoga!
Looking for more activities to do with your kids? Head over to our social media pages to find more:
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